


Caught In You

by Lunafeather



Series: Say It Softer Now [2]
Category: Good Girls (TV)
Genre: Episode: s02e07 The Dubby, F/M, I don't even know anymore, Prompt Fill, Somewhere between angst and fluff, arguing!, bickering like the disaster babies they are!, fighting!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-15
Updated: 2020-04-15
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:08:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23664412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lunafeather/pseuds/Lunafeather
Summary: “You can’t just walk away from this, away from me--”When he meets her eye again, he let’s that cold, cruel mask slip into place. “Sure looks like that’s what I’m doing, huh?”It's as if he's slapped her, the color draining from her face before a bright red flush floods her cheeks and spills down her neck to her chest, her eyes startled and wide and wet and then narrowed, her lips tugged into a snarl as she growls, "Fuck you."-------Set sometime after 2.07 The Dubby, assuming that their relationship continued on that we-definitely-have-feelings-for-each-other-and-it's-getting-harder-to-pretend-otherwise train, before the back half of Season 2 really kicked in.
Relationships: Beth Boland/Rio
Series: Say It Softer Now [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1726285
Comments: 4
Kudos: 112





	Caught In You

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt Fill from Anon on Tumblr.

The air seems to thicken, all stuffy and electrically charged, once Elizabeth registers his words.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“I said what I said.”

“Yeah... I heard you the first time, but what you said is bullshit so I’m going to need a little bit more to go off of.”

He shoves his hands in his pockets and just watches her.

“Rio--”

“You’re out, mama. End of story.”

“Like hell it is!”

“How many times I gotta tell you? You suddenly deaf?” Her mouth forms a hard line and there’s fury in her eyes, the rage tightening her shoulders choking the words trying desperately to form. “Lemme spell it out real slow for you: it’s done. We’re done. You’re gonna get back in that mama van, and you’re gonna drive home to those babies you’re always rubbing in my face, and you’re gonna live happily ever after in that big house, you get me? Do I gotta make it any simpler?”

He’s being a dick now, but his own impatience is starting to cloud his mind, and this is hard enough as it is without her fighting tooth and nail to keep him in her life. Why the fuck does she never just get when he’s doing something for her own good?

“And… what? Pretend we don't know each other? That we never met? That I don’t…” She chokes off mid sentence and for a second her voice sounds wet. She struggles for a moment, hands gesturing wildly at her sides.

“Yeah. Yeah, that sounds about right.”

“I can’t just forget you! That’s not how this works!” It’s a splutter, indignant and pained, and he has to look away from the tears gathering in her eyes because then the urge to touch her will be too hard to fight. “You can’t just walk away from this, away from me--”

When he meets her eye again, he let’s that cold, cruel mask slip into place. “Sure looks like that’s what I’m doing, huh?”

It's as if he's slapped her, the color draining from her face before a bright red flush floods her cheeks and spills down her neck to her chest, her eyes startled and wide and wet and then narrowed, her lips tugged into a snarl as she growls, "Fuck you."

He rocks on his heels, keeping his face impassive as he shrugs. He hopes this will finally get her to back off and leave. "Aight, mama."

He's about to turn away when she gets up into his space, jabbing her finger against his chest.

"You are a vile, disgusting asshole! You think you're a king, a master, some ridiculous high and mighty ruler, but you're just a selfish little boy who thinks it's a game to hurt other people and play with their heads!"

Anger surges up his throat, but he swallows it, smothers it, instead tipping his head back to look down his nose at her through his lashes. "That right?"

"You think you're better than everyone else, that anyone who can't do what you can is worthless. We're all just pawns in your big get rich scheme, you use us until we're empty and then you throw us away. Throw _me_ away. I can't believe I ever let myself think you actually cared about me, about _anyone_ . I can't believe I let myself like you, let myself--" She chokes off the revelation, like it physically hurts to say the words, and now her tears are sliding down her cheeks. His stomach feels heavy and taut. "You probably think I'm worth less than the dirt on your hands," she continues, "the dirt beneath your feet, that I'm useless and pathetic and stupid. I'm sure that 'boss bitch' crap was just some honeyed words to get me to do your _royal_ bidding, maybe to get in my pants. You don't give a shit about anyone but yourself, do you? You would probably use your son until he's empty, too."

He snatches her hand away from his chest and clenches it in his fingers, yanking her until they're chest to chest, their faces inches apart. His fury has swelled and overtaken him, and yeah, he _does_ think she's stupid, because how can she possibly think all of this of him despite everything that's happened? How can she not see everything he's done for her, all the ways he's looked out for her, protected her, taught her? Lifted her up and encouraged her, saw her potential? Even now, he's trying to keep her safe, even if it means they aren't in one another's lives. He's at the point that he cares more about her than what she can do for him.

And that's why her words strike him so sharply.

The insinuation that he doesn't care about his son is like gasoline on an inferno.

She gasps, startled, frozen with fear -- though, as ever, that steel hovers underneath. The sight of it pisses him off at the same time that it makes him proud.

"I would move heaven and Earth for Marcus, or die trying," he says through clenched teeth. He watches shame wash over her face, knows she regrets the words. "I would sacrifice you in a heartbeat for him, and don't even try to tell me you wouldn't do the same for your kids." She opens her mouth, but he shakes his head. "And funny you say I think you're worthless when you treat me like your dirty little secret, like it's a fun little affair with your gardener or some other bored housewife shit. I'm not an exotic fling, darling. So maybe you should take a look at yourself before you start throwing stones in a glass house, huh?"

"I don't-- I'm not--" She huffs for a second, gathering her thoughts, then,"and yet here we are, with me fighting for us -- for this," she quickly corrects, "whatever the hell _this_ is."

Rio rolls his eyes, groaning. "I'm trying to protect you!" It's long suffering.

She stares at him, hard, all of the fight draining out of her. "You're… _What?_ "

Well, shit. He didn't mean to actually tell her that.

He sets her firmly away from him, releasing her hand to instead scrub at his beard.

"Just… forget it, aight? I'm done."

"No, don't do that."

"Leave it alone, Elizabeth."

She glares at him, but he's already turning to leave. She snatches the sleeve of his jacket and spins him back to face her. "No, I'm sorry, but if this is the last time we're going to see each other, then I think I deserve some transparency."

"Oh you do, huh?"

"Yes!"

"Tough shit."

It's almost as if he can hear the kill bill sirens when she says tightly, "Excuse me?"

"You heard me."

Now he's just being petulant, he can admit that. It's just… this woman has a way of getting under his skin in a way no one else ever has, and he's powerless to stop himself from getting all wrapped up in her and her bitch ass drama and their stupid bickering. Plus, he's not gonna lie… it's fun to rile her up. His anger has mellowed into annoyance and frustration, which gives the joy of fucking with her room to bloom.

“You are really doing well in changing my mind about your being an asshole.”

He smirks at that. “I never said I ain’t an asshole.”

Elizabeth glowers, crossing her arms -- and he can’t help it, he’s a simple man. His eyes drop to her cleavage, emphasized by her posture. She clocks it the moment it happens, scoffing and dropping her arms. “Seriously?”

Rio’s smirk stretches into a grin. He slowly moves closer, holding her gaze, his smile softening as her eyes do. When he’s in her space again, her face is open and vulnerable. He lifts a hand to trail his pinky against her forehead, moving her hair aside and dragging down to rub at the cleft of her chin, and he’s startled but not entirely surprised when her lip trembles.

“Why are you doing this?” Her voice is low, tremulous, hesitant and curious and wary.

He sighs, but it’s more a breath of release than anything else. “Tryin’ to protect you.”

“From what?”

“The consequences of your dumbass decisions.” There’s no heat to it, though. Still, she flinches a little. “You think announcing yourself to a hotbed of skank ass criminals was gonna bode well for your career? You forget there’s bad guys in this work?” He shakes his head. “You were lucky you got outta that situation as easy as you did, but don’t think those bottom dwellers ain’t gonna remember your face. Or the rest of you.” He shamelessly sweeps her body with his eyes, trying to prove a point. “Definitely not the rest of you.”

She doesn’t say anything, just watches him, absorbing his words.

“They ain’t stupid, they can sense an amateur from miles away, like sharks in the water. They got you on their radar, and there ain’t much I can do to keep you safe if you’re still out there. You’re exposed.”

She frowns, chewing on her lip. “So… why couldn’t you just tell me that?”

His jaw works back and forth, his mouth a firm line. She’s already one of his weaknesses, a liability. Giving her more info just gives her more power, gives his competition more power, but he had already been struggling to make this choice before, knew that if he spent too long near her that his conviction would slowly crumble.

And, well… He’s losing that battle.

“‘Long as you’re in this life, you're at risk. Better for everyone if you get out completely."

Elizabeth shifts closer, her fingers fidgeting with the hem of her blouse. "That doesn't answer my question."

He huffs out a humorless chuckle, shaking his head in annoyance. "You a regular dog with a bone, huh?"

"Takes one to know one."

They glare at each other, a stalemate. He _refuses_ to cave first, has to keep some semblance of control around her, and he's already run his mouth off more than he's comfortable with. He tries to ignore the way her eyes bore into him, tries to ignore that magnetic pull that makes him want to bury his face in her hair and just breathe her in and let his hands map her curves until he can sculpt her from memory.

He feels _seen,_ the sensation mounting ever since he revealed Marcus to her, and it's terrifying.

"Rio."

Her voice is gentle, pleading. He can hear all the cracks and fractures in her that eerily match the ones in him.

Fuck.

He tips his chin up. "Gotta keep you safe, Mamí. You so damn pigheaded, I know if I laid it out for you like that you'd have just turned your nose up and fought me on it. You ain't make up your mind -- you want in, you want out, you want in, whatever, over and over. Especially not gonna let no man keep you down. You laugh at danger when you shouldn't."

"I thought you liked that about me…" It's teasing, half-hearted.

"I do." And he's sincere. She looks surprised. "But you don't got the experience to be that reckless yet, it's gonna get you killed. You’re too damn impatient to learn, you think you know better than everyone, especially me. You don’t listen--” It doesn’t escape him that trying to pull this on her and it failing spectacularly shouldn’t surprise him, considering this fact, “-- you don’t stay in your damn lane. Add all that together with a bunch of assholes who want to rip you off, hurt you, or fuck you, and it’s a disaster. I got enough on my plate to be worryin’ about your ass, and that’s all I been doing lately.” He watches her shoulders slump dejectedly. “I made an executive decision to cut you off.”

He pauses, takes a breath. Reaches up to curl a piece of her hair around his finger. “Even if it meant never seein’ you again. Rather you be out there fuckin’ shit up in other people’s lives, than dead.”

They hang like that, the moment heavy and intense. He holds his breath, doesn't want to break the spell.

Then she smirks. “Should have known I would fight you no matter what.”

A grin spreads across his face, affectionate and so very tired of her shit. "You really don't know when to quit, huh?"

She shoots him a mock dirty look, though he suspects there's a bit of sincerity to it. "You really gonna kick me out?"

He presses his tongue into the corner of his mouth, sizing her up with a long, heated look up and down her body. "Why do I got the feeling that ain't gonna work?"

Elizabeth shrugs, just a little bit triumphant. "No idea."

He pauses, trying to give her the impression he hasn’t yet changed his mind, wanting her to squirm as punishment. She, of course, simply stares at him with her big blue eyes, waiting him out. He lets out a long breath through his nose.

"You can stay on one condition." At her eyebrow raise, "No more of this back and forth. You either in or you out. And if you in, you gotta learn how to protect yourself.” Her nose scrunches in that way that makes him feel a little too warm -- whether from irritation or from tenderness, he can’t really tell anymore -- so when her mouth drops open, he rushes to cut her off, “Nah, we ain’t gonna argue about this. Those are my conditions, take ‘em or leave ‘em. And I got shit to do, so you better make up your mind fast.”

She scoffs, like she’s the most important damn thing he should have on his to do list, then tugs her lip between her teeth.

He tries not to notice. This whole thing has already spiraled out of control as it is, he can _not_ get even more distracted.

Elizabeth sighs, and the way she looks at him is thick with more emotions and thoughts than he can decipher in the small moment she allows him to see them before that steely resolve and determination fills her up, straightening her spine and lifting her chin. She nods once, decisively.

“Okay.”

He looks back, caught. He’s murmuring, “okay,” before he even realizes it.

God dammit.

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt was: 
> 
> "Hey,! I was just wondering if you are taking prompts for Brio and if you could somehow include this line : 87. “ I can’t just forget you, that’s not how this works.” In any fic to do with either Beth or Rio admitting their feelings to each other and this line being involved. Thank you so much and I can’t wait for next week! Also I just wanna say I was so happy when I saw on your blog that you watch GG because I know you used to love Wyndolls and I was a Wyndolls warrior :( Thanks again!"
> 
> It took me almost a year, but here it is! I hope you're still following me, anon!


End file.
